Henry Dreyfuss’ work is a result of extensive research on the human body, and highlights human-centered design in terms of the physical capabilities of users. If the user is unable to utilize a product, it does not provide users with an adequate starting point for discoverability. In fact, Dreyfuss measures a product’s “success” by its impact on users to be “safer, more comfortable, more eager to purchase, more efficient – or just plain happier”. In “Designing for People”, Dreyfuss outlines the role of the designer and his or her relationship, not only to the user, but to other contributors to a design. As is such, it is important in our practice as interaction designers and researchers to consider our responsibility to communicate. Whether this communication is to the user, through the design, or in languages most fluent to that of stakeholders, we consistently strive to understand the position of the other, and adapt as necessary to be understood.
The work of Karl Gerstner and Ladislav Sutnar’s work exhibits the need to utilize design principles for the organization of information, as information means nothing if it is indigestble to the viewer. By utilizing hierarchy, grids, and noting the visual circulation of a page, Gerstner and Sutnar both adapted to and manipulated the eye of the viewer through visual interest. In the realm of UI/UX, where visual and audio stimulation are the primary modes of sensory input, with the occasional haptic response, it is of upmost importance to organize information in a way that is not only understandable to the user, but that urges the user to want to understand it.
Jay and Charles Eames engaged in an exploration of materiality, by starting with the conceptual model of a “chair”, they sought to navigate the various other forms it could take. Charles and Ray Eames centered play in their work, and as a manifestation of such explorations, what began as concepts took on many different iterations. Their work shows us that actively learning and engaging in the process of design can bring innovative and beautiful work into fruition. By beginning with the conceptual model of what users already understand in technology, we have the ability to manipulate the digital “materiality” of such, and branch off in new and unfounded ways. What may result is a new form of understanding that becomes broadly accepted by the masses, just as the Eames chair did!
